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Architects today are redefining the formation of modern housing concepts around the world and this is most prevalent in Japan, where the diversity of contemporary residential design is both wide-ranging and exemplary.

Professor Zhao Xiang, from Fukuoka University, provides indepth analyses of the historical influences of a dozen different design themes that have played a vital role in Japanese professional practice across the last six decades, such as the stereoscopic detached living mode; the new parameters for personal and traditional 'space'; the spatial responses to a modern family concept; the use of 'abstract space'; and even urban guerilla housing.

There are also more than 40 case studies, highly illustrated throughout, that serve as the strongest reflection of the rich diversity of modern houses currently trending across Japan today.

Contents: 1. Reasons for Diversity of Japanese Houses; 2. Basic Living Requirements of Houses; 3. Issues on Living Space; 4. Two Aspects of Housing Design; 5. Design Themes of Different Houses; References; Case Studies; Rural Style;Reflecting Culture and Customs; Reflecting Openness; Emphasising Middle Space; Getting Close to Nature; Adapting to Modern Lifestyle; Index.

Zhao Xiang first studied at Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology and then Tsinghua University. After graduation he worked at China's Design Institute of the Ministry of Commerce for close to a decade. Following this, he travelled to Japan to study, completed his Masters and PhD courses at University of Tokyo and achieved a PhD (Engineering). After working for Okada & Associates in Tokyo for four years, he became a full-time teacher at Fukuoka University. Xiang is now a professor at the university, and has served as Director of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering in the graduate school and Dean of Studies of the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering.